Churches in Revelation: Commands and Warnings

To the Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)

Commands:

• • Remember the height from which you have fallen!

  • Repent.

  • Do the things you did at first.

Warnings:

• • If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

To the Church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)

Commands:

• • Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.

  • Be faithful, even to the point of death.

Warnings:

• • The devil will put some of you in prison to test you.

To the Church in Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17)

Commands:

• • Repent.

Warnings:

• • Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

To the Church in Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29)

Commands:

• • Hold on to what you have until I come.

  • To the rest who do not hold Jezebel's teachings, just hold on to what you have.

Warnings:

• • I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely unless they repent.

  • I will strike her children dead.

To the Church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)

Commands:

• • Wake up!

  • Strengthen what remains and is about to die.

  • Remember what you have received and heard.

  • Obey it.

  • Repent.

Warnings:

• • If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

To the Church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13)

Commands:

• • Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

Warnings:

• • No explicit warnings.

To the Church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22)

Commands:

• • I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich.

  • Buy white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness.

  • Buy salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

  • Be earnest and repent.

Warnings:

• • Because you are lukewarm, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.